Disgrace
by LightOfTheRose
Summary: Just a one shot on why I think Draco is how he is! :) Rate and Review!


Disgrace

Draco Malfoy was a disgrace to his family, at least that was what they always told him.

He had been told that since he was four years old.

His father had not been pleased with Draco in the first place, was not fond of the child's birth at all. You could go as far as to say he hated him.

Yes, his mother loved him but she didn't show it around his father, because then she was the weak one.

It all started on the day Draco climbed through the fence. He was only four years old at the time. He ran to a park situated nearby, his small feet padding happily at the ground as he giggled. He sat on the swings at the park on his own, until a small boy around his age came in the park, occupying the neighbouring swing. Draco and the little boy played until it started to get dark, and the four year old decided he had to go; his mum and dad would be worried.

So he ran home.

He ran over, climbing back through the fence and running into the manor. He called on his mum and dad with a grin. They came running in, his mother going to hug him before changing her mind. She screeched at him, asking where he had been and he was shocked at how worried she had been.

He told them both exactly where he had been, and exactly who he had been playing with.

His father snarled at him, only one word leaving his lips.

"Disgrace."

He shouted the word, explaining that if he associated with people like that again, he would no longer be part of this family.

Draco had gotten upset, and started to cry. His father's lips stretched into that familiar Malfoy smirk as her mother looked at him with longing.

That was the first time Draco Malfoy was labelled 'disgrace'. His father made sure to tell him every day afterwards.

So Draco changed. He started to play with other Pureblood children, and when he saw that small boy out, he ignored him, because he had started this.

The other Pureblood children told him that blood was everything, that nothing else mattered.

He just didn't understand.

But that word was the reason he acted the way he did. He just needed the reassurance that his father loved him. Of course, he never got it.

Then, when he received his letter for Hogwarts, his father had said he really didn't understand why he had been accepted. After all, he was a disgrace to the family name.

Then when he was just about to leave to get on the train, his father had pulled him aside and told him if he wasn't placed in Slytherin, he was all but dead to them.

So, Draco wished the whole train ride there to be placed in Slytherin. He even tried to befriend the famous Harry Potter, thinking maybe his dad would see that he wasn't a disgrace, he was useful.

As he waited to be sorted, his hands shook, body trembling and as he approached the stool, he wished harder than he had ever wished before to be put in Slytherin. And he was. He had never been more relieved in his life.

That year, he took to picking on muggleborns and Blood Traitors, knowing the word would reach home.

It did, but his father didn't seem impressed.

Only his mother sent him letters at Hogwarts. He really truly looked up to his father. Every time the owls would swoop in, he would hope for all he was worth that a letter from his father would be there.

Not one.

In his second year, things did not improve, even though he picked on the muggleborns relentlessly. He received constant reminders that he was a disgrace.

In his third year, he got his father involved in school life, hoping that this would place him in the good books. Not a chance. The minute that massive bird escaped, Draco was loathed in his father's eyes.

In fourth year, his father was appalled that his son was not allowed to be part of the Triwizard tournament, and when he discovered Potter had been picked, he was furious.

When he left for his fifth year, he wasn't aware of the guest that would be staying there during his absence. He picked on Potter that year, targeted him, and was part of Umbridge's squad just to please his father, because he knew Umbridge was a 'follower'.

That year, the return of the Dark Lord was confirmed.

In a desperate bid to gain his father's love, he endeared excruciating pain, and was branded with the dark mark.

It still wasn't enough.

He then made the ultimate sacrifice for his father, taking on the task of killing his headmaster.

Albeit his mother did try to help him there.

He practiced, he thought it over, and he set it all up.

But he couldn't do it, because that is not who he was.

In his seventh year, he was truly broken. Countless people died before him, countless people screamed in pain as he watched. But he needed his father's approval, and he was willing to do anything for that.

And when he was faced with the choice of dark or light, he chose dark, because that's where his dad was. But when he reached the dark, there was no proud smile waiting for him. Only a scowl and the word 'disgrace' practically carved into his forehead.

So he came back to the light, realising just how horrible his father was, realising what he wanted most in the world, he was never going to receive.

When his father was later sent to Azkaban, it tore him apart but also felt like a huge weight off his shoulders.

When he married Astoria, and she gave birth to Scorpius, he was the best gift Draco had ever received, and he loved him with every fibre of his being.

So when Scorpius went to Hogwarts and was the first Malfoy to be placed in Gryffindor, Draco was not upset or angry. He was pleased.

He welcomed his son with open arms and couldn't have been more proud, because he was not going to be like his father. He gave his son everything he had ever wanted, because he knew how it felt.

Draco had an extended family, much like his father, they were similar in many ways, but different in at least one.

Draco realised soon after his father was sent to Azkaban, Draco was not the disgrace in the family. That title belonged to his proud father.

He was the disgrace.


End file.
